Courtmacsherry Beach Sprints Regatta will take place in Blindstrand, Courtmacsherry, on June 13th, and entries are now live on tracker.
This marks the first of two new Rowing Ireland Beach Sprint League Events (Ring Beach Sprints being the 2nd one) and we encourage as many people to enter whether they are new to the sport or have previously done beach sprints.
Categories for this event will be J14, J16, J18 and Open and will include Male & Female 1x as well as Mixed 2x.
This year we will be trialling a new format with the aim to be to give everyone more competitive races.
We will use a Round Robin / Points Progression system at this regatta. This guarantees all participants a minimum of 3 races. The illustration below is based on 16 entries in a given category to demonstrate how the it will work on the day. In this format, athletes earn points based on their finishing position in each heat. Since the goal is to race against as many different opponents as possible across 3 rounds, the heats are staggered to ensure variety.
Scoring System
Lower points are better (Olympic-style scoring):
• 1st Place: 1 Point
• 2nd Place: 2 Points
• 3rd Place: 3 Points
• 4th Place: 4 Points
The Racing Schedule
Round 1: Initial Seeding
| Heat | Lane 1 | Lane 2 | Lane 3 | Lane 4 |
| Heat 1 | Athlete 1 | Athlete 2 | Athlete 3 | Athlete 4 |
| Heat 2 | Athlete 5 | Athlete 6 | Athlete 7 | Athlete 8 |
| Heat 3 | Athlete 9 | Athlete 10 | Athlete 11 | Athlete 12 |
| Heat 4 | Athlete 13 | Athlete 14 | Athlete 15 | Athlete 16 |
Round 2: The Shuffle
To maximize different matchups, we mix the groups.
| Heat | Lane 1 | Lane 2 | Lane 3 | Lane 4 |
| Heat 5 | Athlete 1 | Athlete 5 | Athlete 9 | Athlete 13 |
| Heat 6 | Athlete 2 | Athlete 6 | Athlete 10 | Athlete 14 |
| Heat 7 | Athlete 3 | Athlete 7 | Athlete 11 | Athlete 15 |
| Heat 8 | Athlete 4 | Athlete 8 | Athlete 12 | Athlete 16 |
Round 3: The Final Mix
Using a “step” method to ensure athletes face those they haven’t met yet.
| Heat | Lane 1 | Lane 2 | Lane 3 | Lane 4 |
| Heat 9 | Athlete 1 | Athlete 6 | Athlete 11 | Athlete 16 |
| Heat 10 | Athlete 2 | Athlete 7 | Athlete 12 | Athlete 13 |
| Heat 11 | Athlete 3 | Athlete 8 | Athlete 9 | Athlete 14 |
| Heat 12 | Athlete 4 | Athlete 5 | Athlete 10 | Athlete 15 |
Qualification for the Final
After 12 heats, every athlete will have raced 3 times. Total the points for each athlete.
Tie-Breaker Rule: If two athletes are tied on points for the final spot, the tie-breaker is usually:
- Most 1st place finishes.
- Fastest recorded time in any of the three rounds.
The Grand Final (Top 4)
The 4 athletes with the lowest total points advance to the Final. They get to choose their lane.
Final Lane 1 Lane 2 Lane 3 Lane 4 Final A Rank #1 Rank #2 Rank #3 Rank #4
Matchups: In this 16 entrant example & with this rotation, every athlete faces 9 unique opponents out of the 15 possible others before the final. This provides a very high level of variety for a 3-round format.
Further details can be found on tracker or here.
